


Changing

by Captain Wednesday (speakeze)



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Character Turned Into Vampire, Eventual Fluff, F/F, Lots of it, Vamp!Laura, Vampire!Laura, Vampires, changing, turned laura, tw:blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-04-03 14:18:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4103971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speakeze/pseuds/Captain%20Wednesday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura noticed that the warm feeling had drained away, replaced by a cold sensation similar to frozen steel. Eventually, the cold feeling became more of a neutral numbness, and then she couldn’t move at all. Her breathing transitioned from quiet panting to a heavy and ragged gasp.<br/>"Oh," she thought, "so this is dying."</p><p>Canon-divergent after S1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Night Hike

Laura loves nothing more than a good night hike, or so she told herself (and her dad, when he asked where she was going at 11:06 PM). The night was a gorgeous one, not too warm, a gentle wind, and she could just make out the Big Dipper through the trees. The woods around the trail were alive with the noises of frogs and crickets and probably some other freaky insects that she didn’t really want to think about just then.

It was reading week, and per Laura’s request (which she was currently regretting) Carmilla was staying at her dad’s place with her. It wasn’t that she hadn’t enjoyed Carm’s time with them, but at times she could be…difficult. Like when Laura called first shower and Carmilla tried to shower with her, or right now, when Carmilla found some old writing of Laura’s and laughed at it without thinking.

Laura knew that Carmilla didn’t really _mean_ to make fun of her, but she still felt she needed to get some fresh air. So, cue the night hike in the woods behind Laura’s house. Even though the occasional owl hoot or opossum hiss freaked her the hell out, she was managing to enjoy herself.

After about a half an hour of walking, she decided to turn back around. Three seconds later, she came face to face with a blonde holding a baseball bat. She felt herself lose her footing and managed to cry out before hitting the ground. 

/

Laura woke up a little bit off the trail next to a fallen tree. There was a throbbing in her head and something sticky trickling down her back. The animals had become unbearably loud.

She let out an audible grunt of pain and stood up, brushing herself off. As soon as she got her footing, her ankle twisted out from under her. She crumpled, feeling a hot pain shoot through her leg and up to her hip. She tried to stand up again, this time using a branch for support, and succeeded for about .2 seconds before falling again.

After six more attempts with various surrounding objects, Laura noticed that the pain was starting to spread from her foot to her torso. Everything from her diaphragm down felt unpleasantly warm and sticky. She noticed she was sweating through her shirt.

After a few more minutes of this, Laura realized that she no longer had control of her legs at all. They twitched spasmodically, leaving her in a half-seizure state. The warm feeling was trickling up her torso and was almost to her neck. She decided to give up on standing and began a crawl to her house.

Laura had made it about five yards when the pain became unbearable. She could feel her abdomen pulsating and contorting under her. Defeated, she rolled over to face the sky. The cool ground felt nice on her back, she thought, and closed her eyes. She noticed that the warm feeling had drained away, replaced by a cold sensation similar to frozen steel. Eventually, the cold feeling became more of a neutral numbness, and then she couldn’t move at all. Her breathing transitioned from quiet panting to a heavy and ragged gasp.

 _Oh_ , she thought, _so this is dying._

She continued to stay still, putting all her energy into breathing and staring at the constellations above.

She didn’t remember falling asleep. She slept for what seemed like hours, drifting through dreams.

When she woke up, she could walk again.

 


	2. Louisville Slugger

As Laura rose to her feet and cracked the knuckles in her left hand, she could hear a voice calling her name from her house (which was five miles away, but these kinds of things did not occur to her at the time). The voice carried rich notes of panic and worry.

A sense of warm comfort settled over Laura. Though she couldn’t remember who the voice belonged to, it sounded extremely familiar. After glancing around to get her bearings (again, the new addition of night vision did not concern her until much later), she realized she couldn’t actually remember why she was in the woods. Something about a fight? Right, a fight between her and the voice about...about what? Something about trust. Or writing. She couldn’t remember.

The warm feeling in her gut persisted, and she felt torn between the part of her that insisted she had gotten into a fight with the voice and the part that instinctually trusted it. She scratched her head and felt a gooey substance stick to her hand. To her fascination, she realized it was a bit of brain.

“Ew,” she said to no one in particular, shaking the organ bits off her hand.

Her brow furrowed. If her brain was outside her body, how was she alive?

Actually, was she even alive? Laura discovered for the first time that she lacked a pulse, and that her hands were unnaturally cold. Her veins, usually a prominent turquoise, had turned blood red. But if she was dead, how was she still conscious? Was she even conscious?

Laura attempted to puzzle this out for a few minutes. The disembodied voice began to draw ever so slightly nearer, though this only captured her attention for a few seconds before she became distracted by a couple of bugs in the blood pool underneath her.

She heard the distinct crunch of pressure on gravel.

Her head shot up, sending more flecks of blood and brain bits flying. She made steady eye contact with the person on the trail, baring her teeth.

A woman with hair the color of lightning stooped down to Laura’s eye level. In her right hand, she clutched a bloodied brand-name Louisville Slugger.

Without making a sound, the woman called her name. Laura briefly wondered if this was the voice from earlier, but this voice was much smoother and less panicked.

“Am I dead?” Laura thought stupidly. The woman wrinkled her nose.

“No, _haedus_ , you are very much alive.” The woman had a very thick Bulgarian accent, except for the Latin phrase. Laura marveled for a short time at the accent, especially since it was communicated through what was apparently clairaudience.

“I don’t have a pulse.”

“You’re alive much better now. Alive in new ways. Extraordinary things waiting. You see, I promise you.”

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Katerina,” the woman smiled warmly. “You may call me Katerina or Mother, whichever you prefer.”

Laura was silent for a time. The voice from before was getting closer and closer by the second.

“Who’s calling my name?”

“Carmilla Karnstein, of both Silas and London Covens,” Katerina answered after a moment. “She’s worried about you.”

Suddenly, Laura felt as though she had been, well, brained with a baseball bat. Lucidity hit her like a brick, names and faces and dates rushing past her in a chaotic mesh of matrices not unlike television static. She couldn’t focus on any one bit of data, but she caught glimpses of memories. She saw a dorm room, interrupted by someone who she recognized as Carmilla, interrupted by her dad, interrupted by LaFontaine, interrupted by blinding light.

“Am I a vampire?” she quietly asked.

Katerina just grinned at her and pressed a finger to her lips. Carmilla was nearing the curve in the trail, shouting Laura’s name.

Laura blinked and the woman faded away, almost like a mirage, leaving Laura sitting in a pool of blood and chunks of brain.

“Carm?” Laura’s voice was barely above a whisper. It sounded strangled, like she had gargled on quartz before speaking. Carmilla was crouched next to her in an instant.

“Oh my god Laura I was so worried thank god you’re okay-”

“Carm,” Laura’s voice was more even now, but softer than before.

“-thought you had gotten lost or attacked or-”

“Carm.”

 “-and oh my god your head we have to get you to a hospital-”

“ _Carmilla_.”

Carmilla paused long enough to stare at Laura. She reached around to pick what she _thought_ was a leaf out of the golden brown hair.

As soon as she recognized that she was holding hippocampus in her hand, a look of pure horror graced Carmilla’s face.

Laura cleared her throat. “Carm, I’m really thirsty.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm glad so many of you are enjoying it so far. Here's the next chapter! Like I said before, I'm not sure when I'll be able to update. It just worked out that I could update two days in a row!


	3. Bubbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m-” There was a rough quality to her voice, like she was choking on something. “I’m sorry, I forgot this part-um, I’m Carmilla-I mean Carm, call me Carm, and I care about you very much so I’m going to make sure that you’ll be okay, okay?”

Laura awoke in a familiar bed. Well, almost familiar- something was off, between the singed scent of her childhood bedroom and her extreme headache she wasn’t entirely positive if she’d actually been here before. Everything felt simultaneously real and unreal, like a fucked up fugue state. Her furniture glimmered faintly, and shimmered as she moved her eyes across it. It reminded her of those folders she’d had as a kid, with cheetahs that ran and fairies whose wings beat when she tilted the folder back and forth.

The uncanny valley quality of her bedroom made her stomach churn. She started gagging on the taste of the air (since when did her room have a taste?) and plugged her nose to prevent the acrid smell of…of what exactly? She glanced down and immediately discovered the source- her running shorts were stained in a weird brownish-red color and there were leaves glued to her stomach by mud. Her furniture rotated in a slow lullaby around her, and she couldn’t tell if that was due to her headache or her sudden hunger pains. Every stimulus was assaulting her senses, the light burned into her eyes, and she honestly couldn’t tell if the screaming outside was the damned or birds. Everything was too-much-too-fast-too-loud and her skin was suddenly warring against her clothes so she ripped them off and-

Her door opened. A black haired individual with a familiar scent swiftly shut it again. This person didn’t have the same shimmery not-quite-solid look to her, and Laura instinctively trusted her because of it. A familiar voice cut straight into her mind, and everything quieted around her.

“Oh Laura,” the person whispered, brushing back the matted brown hair, “come on sweetheart, let’s get you cleaned up.”

Laura cleared her throat and her eyebrows knit together. There was a brief silence, followed by “who are you?”

A thousand emotions passed the other girl’s face, and Laura recognized none of them.

“I’m-” There was a rough quality to her voice, like she was choking on something. “I’m sorry, I forgot this part-um, I’m Carmilla-I mean Carm, call me Carm, and I care about you very much so I’m going to make sure that you’ll be okay, okay?”

Laura nodded vacantly. “Okay.” She nodded at her furniture. “When will that stop?”

Carmilla shook her head. “It doesn’t, really. You’ll get used to it.”

Laura nodded again. There was a comfortable silence between them for a few brief moments, only to be interrupted by a panicked scream. A lucid thought crossed Laura’s mind.

“ _Carm_?”

Carmilla’s head snapped up and she pulled Laura closer, holding her by the waist, and Laura relaxed before falling back into her trance. _This is good_ , Carmilla thought. _Soon the lucidity will be permanent. She just needs time to recover, that’s all. No reason to worry. Remember? First, lucidity. Then, confusion and mood swings. Then they get destructive and then-_

“I’m hungry.” Laura mumbled, cutting Carmilla’s internal monologue off.

Carmilla rolled her sleeve up and pressed it against Laura’s chapped lips.

Laura’s nose wrinkled against her forearm and Carmilla urged her head closer with her other hand.

There was a clumsy bite and Laura’s tongue probed the puncture wounds. She started to drink cautiously, pulling Carmilla’s arm against her lips and absently propping herself up with her other. There were a few gross slurping sounds and some blood bubbled near her lips, causing a frothy mess on her bedsheets.

Suddenly, Laura jerked away with a shriek.

 _Lucid moment two_ , Carmilla thought.

“Carmilla what in the fresh hell is happening why do I taste metal why is everything loud why am I not breathing what’s going on why are you bleeding why am I naked-”

She relaxed again and went back to slurping. Carmilla took this opportunity to text LaFontaine to bring her more hospital blood, careful not to reveal that they were for Laura rather than herself.

When she started to feel a little lightheaded, Carmilla pushed Laura off.

This time, there wasn’t an audible signal that Laura had fallen back into reality. Instead, her muscles tensed up and she cleared her throat, wiping her face roughly with her bare arm.

“Um.” There was a pause as Laura licked her lips. A blood bubble popped on Carmilla’s wrist.

“Why…” she trailed off, looking around, and Carmilla feared she’d slipped again until she resumed speech. “Why am I naked?”

Carmilla nervously pushed back her hair with her bloodied arm, leaving a streak of red down her face. “Well, there was-”

Laura interrupted sharply. “Am I a vampire?”

Her voice sounded wrong in her own ears, too smooth and too perfect. Carmilla nodded slightly.

Laura looked stricken for a moment before punching Carmilla directly in the stomach. She doubled over and Laura stood up as she began to talk. “Carmilla we talked about this and I told you I didn’t want this to happen and I wanted to stay human as long as possible with you and now that’s _clearly_ not an option but how could you be so _selfish_ as to turn me into _this_ for your own personal gain and _GOD_ I should have listened to my friends I should have listened to Danny and I should I have listened to my instincts but _NO_ I just had to fucking fall in love with the vampire and I seriously can’t believe that you would-”

She shrank back as Carmilla stood, tears running tracks down her cheeks and mixing with her blood, but continued to talk.

“Laura, we’re gonna get you cleaned up, okay?” Carmilla interrupted.

Laura faltered before continuing. “-I just don’t know how you could be this irresponsible, you said you could control yourself, you said that you wouldn’t hurt me, you promised me Carm. And I don’t even know how it happened- wait, don’t tell me, were we fucking and you got ‘lost in the throes of passion’? was it some cheesy Edward and Bella bullshit? Or did you just finally realize that you’ve been rooming with a veritable blood bank and decided you might as well make use of her?”

“Laura, stop.”

Laura halted her speech instantly.

“Laura, I didn’t turn you.”

Laura scratched her head, stunned. “You didn’t?”

“No, I didn’t. Let’s get you cleaned up.” Carmilla repeated, taking her hand and leading her to the bathroom down the hall.

“Carm…I’m so-”

“-sorry? I know, Laura, it’s fine. I know you’re confused. Your memories will come back in a few hours. Let’s just…I’ll draw a bath.”

Laura decided to stop talking for a while.

Laura’s bathroom (or her house, for that matter) was not exactly small. Her father was a trauma surgeon at Memorial Hospital, and her mother had been a neurosurgeon before she died. Subsequently, her house was less of a house and more of a mansion.

Situated against the back wall was a large white bathtub, and next to it was a shower bigger than their dorm’s bathroom. Carmilla turned on the bathtub’s faucet, grabbing Laura’s shampoo and conditioner from the shower and a heaping handful of bath beads from under her sink.

“Alright cutie, into the tub you go.”

Laura obediently sat, and pushed a small button on the wall. The jets roared to life and Laura drew her knees close to her as the tub filled.

Carmilla stripped her clothes and sat next to Laura. The bath beads slowly popped around them. The blood from Laura’s stomach and back left the water a sickly shade of bright pink, like a hellish bath bomb.

Once the tub was filled, Laura shut off the faucet and let the jets continue to bubble the water around them. The only sounds were the low rumble of the streams and the occasional soft splash of Carmilla’s hand as she waved it through the bath.

After what seemed like hours, Carmilla pulled Laura closer to her and began to pick leaves and twigs from her hair. She arranged them neatly on the side of the tub, and reached for the shampoo.

Laura shivered when cool hands massaged her scalp. Carmilla could feel a raised, jagged scar running from the base of Laura’s neck to the top of her head, and found herself grimacing when she found a chunk of wood near the top of the bump. Laura closed her eyes tightly and leaned against Carmilla’s knees.

Carmilla scooped water up to Laura’s head in a failed attempt to rinse the shampoo out. Laura giggled and shook her head before stretching out and rinsing her scalp in the water. She sat back up against Carmilla, who began to rub the conditioner into her hair. It was quiet for a few minutes, and then the gravity of the situation had time to sink in.

Laura felt her shoulder blades shake against Carmilla’s knees and then she was sobbing, and Carmilla was asking _what is it, Laura talk to me, Laura what’s wrong_ and Laura choked on her words and strangled herself with unasked questions and found herself repeating _I never wanted this, Carm, please change me back I never wanted this, please Carm, I never wanted this, please change me back, I never wanted this_.

And so Carmilla pulled Laura closer and let her fingers run through her hair and held her as she cried and bit back tears of her own and silently vowed to murder Katherine for wrecking Laura, for hurting her, and whispered _I-love-you-s_  and _I-swear-it’ll-be-okay-_ s while massaging her shaking shoulders. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, that got angsty quick. I'd also like to apologize for the hiatus, I've been incredibly busy and haven't had time to write. And I'll be honest, I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up either. School's starting soon and I need that to be my primary priority. I'll try to have it within the month.
> 
> On another note, I'm touched by how many of you follow this story. Each of your comments and kudos-es inspired me to get this chapter done. Thanks for responding to my work and thanks for even reading it. I hope you enjoy!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I was just thinking and I was wondering what would happen if Laura was turned into a vampire, but not by Carmilla. Let me know if you like it! I'm planning on continuing it, but I'm not sure how consistent my updates will be. Also, I'm not happy with this title so let me know if you have any ideas.


End file.
